1,680 x 1,050 TFTs

As a Custom PC reader, you almost certainly upgrade your PC more regularly than the average computer user. However, you're also likely to leave your monitor until last, keeping it throughout successive CPU and GPU upgrades.

However, if you purchased even a high-end screen a couple of years ago, it's worth considering a change. Of course, prices continue to drop, and you can always get more for your money a year later. Two shifts have occurred in the last couple of years, though, which make it high time you upgraded your screen if you haven't done so for a while.

Firstly, resolutions have increased sharply, and secondly, widescreen TFTs are beginning to take over. After 1,280 x 1,024 being the affordable norm for some years, with 1,600 x 1,200 for the rich, anything less than 1,680 x 1,050 is now starting to be a little measly. Your graphics card will also be champing at the bit if you can't offer this amount of pixels for it to drive. Graphics cards are now aimed at gaming at high widescreen resolutions, with one manufacturer even using 'HD' in the model names of its latest products.

At least a TFT upgrade won't break the bank. In our last TFT test in Issue 40, less than a year ago, most decent 20in or 22in screens cost in excess of £300, although a few dipped below. In contrast, the cheapest examples this month are priced well under £200, with all but one significantly less than £300. For the same amount of money that you'd pay for a 22in TFT at the beginning of the year, you could be within reach of upgrading to a 24in TFT and stepping up to 1,920 x 1,200.

This month, we put 13 widescreen TFTs through their paces - seven in the 20-22in category, and six 24-27in models. You'll be surprised at how much you can get for your cash, so if your current screen looks slim on size as well as features, check out this month's wideboys - we're sure you can squeeze one of them into your budget.

In all our testing here at Custom PC, we aim to make our analysis as comprehensive as possible. We place the emphasis on how products perform in the tasks for which we generally like to use them. We also back this up with theoretical tests, which often help to explain what we experience during everyday usage. With TFTs, this means a range of tests, including gaming, movie watching and general application use. We also apply industry-standard tests.

This month, we hooked up each monitor to a PC equipped with a 640MB BFG GeForce 8800 GTS to ensure that we could play games at the full resolution of our top category of TFTs. This card is also fully HDCP-compliant, so it supports the playback of Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies.

Displaymate

The professional test suite DisplayMate (www.displaymate.com) provides a scientific method for assessing white and black levels, plus dynamic range and contrast. This is the industry-standard synthetic monitor test. DisplayMate also includes tools for optimising your monitor's setup, so we ran this test first to ensure that each TFT was configured as well as possible for the real-life testing.

DVD movies

When they first arrived, TFT monitors were particularly poor for watching video. Their high response times meant that artefacts such as smearing and tearing spoiled movie viewing. The low dynamic range of early TFTs also had a detrimental effect. Although TFT technology has improved a lot, you can still spot the difference between the best and the worst of TFT screens.

In an attempt to catch out this month's TFT crop, we fired up the epic battle of Pelennor Fields sequence from part three of the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, 'The Return of the King.' With the greatest gathering of fast-moving orcs and oliphants known to man or elf, this sequence really gives pixels a frantic workout. Peter Jackson's masterful cinematography and subtle use of shading also needs a TFT with a good dynamic range to do it justice.

High definition movies

Although only 1,920 x 1,200 displays are capable of playing the high-definition resolution 1,920 x 1,080 movies at full size, we also put the 1,680 x 1,050 displays through their paces with high-definition video. Our test PC included an LG GBW-HN10 Blu-ray drive. Using CyberLink's PowerDVD Ultra 7.2 with Blu-ray support, we watched fast-moving action sequences from the movie 'SWAT' - a test not only of the monitor, but also of our patience. We watched for screen artefacts, colour fidelity and contrast. Using the DVI or HDMI connection, we were also able to assess if each of the TFTs capable of 1,920 x 1,200 were properly HDCP-compliant.

Gaming

Like watching videos, gaming used to be a terrible experience on a TFT. Response rates are even more important in situations where a split second makes the difference between making or missing that crucial kill that allows you to finish a level or become the deathmatch victor.

The reduced dynamic range also used to give you a choice between virtual blindness in dark areas or overblown bright regions lacking in detail - neither of which was particularly conducive to accurate crosshair aiming in a first-person shooter.

Again, TFTs have progressed a long way, so that the retro movement to continue using CRTs is losing impetus. Response rates still vary, though, and the overdriven PVA systems used by many current TFTs can introduce a lag that may be small, but can still be noticeable in fast-paced games.

To test these issues, we played through a level of Prey. The low contrast in the shadows of dingy interior levels traditionally present TFTs with a hard time, and this game has its fair share of gloomy corners. This isn't so much of a problem with our other test title, Need for Speed: Carbon. This game's brightly lit exteriors test the TFTs at the top end of the dynamic range. The rapidly passing scenery also gives the pixel response a run for its money, although watching the scenery isn't recommended when you're travelling at 130mph. Needless to say, we didn't try it in real life on the M40.

Everyday apps

Most people don't use their PCs exclusively for playing games and watching videos. Our final tests involved more prosaic everyday tasks, such as word processing and web browsing. We also viewed several high-resolution still images, looking for any colour problems.